DETROIT (11/29/2019) -- Turkey Day is over and now its back to the business on the hardwood as the University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team will close out its final two games of a seven-game road trip to open the season by visiting Ohio on Saturday. 

Game time is set for 1 p.m., but there will not be a live broadcast so fans can catch all the action on 910 AM Superstation with the Voice of the Titans Dan Hasty calling all the action.

This is the fifth career meeting between Detroit Mercy and Ohio with the Bobcats leading, 3-1, but when the two teams have met, a barnburner is usually in the making as three of the four games have been decided by two points or less. In February of 2005, Ohio hit a shot at the buzzer for a 66-65 win, while in December of 2005, the Titans missed a floater at the buzzer in a 56-55 contest. Last season, Detroit Mercy's three as time winded down was too strong in a 63-61 setback. 

Detroit Mercy is 1-4 on the season as the red, white and blue earned a split out in Las Vegas defeating UC Irvine, 86-74, before dropping a 81-62 game to Louisiana Lafayette. 

Following the game, the Titans will stay in the Buckeye State as they close out a seven-game road trip by at Kent State on Tuesday. 

ALL-TIME SERIES

• This is just the fifth career meeting between the two schools as Ohio leads the match-up, 3-1. 
• The Titans defeated Ohio, 84-77, on Dec. 21, 1971 in Ann Arbor during a tournament held at Michigan, but the Bobcats have claimed the last three meetings. All of them have come down the wire in a 66-65 victory at Calihan Hall in February of 2005, a 56-55 win in Athens in December of 2005 and a 63-61 contest in Calihan Hall last year as their 3-pointer at the buzzer was too strong. 

TOUGH NON-CONFERENCE SLATE

• Get your frequent flyer miles ready as Detroit Mercy has a number of power five schools on the non-conference schedule.
• In total, the red, white and blue will play 13 games in the non-conference with nine away from the Motor City, including trips to North Carolina State, Clemson, Wyoming, Notre Dame, Gonzaga and a two-game tournament in Las Vegas. 
• The first seven games on the road will see the Titans travel just under 10,000 miles round trip (9,980). 
• The seven-games away from home is the longest stretch since the Titans played 10 in a row away from the Motor City at the end of the 2000-01 season, which included two regular-season games, the Horizon League Tournament and the run to the NIT Final Four.
• The non-conference opponents were a combined 258-176 (.594) a year ago with six teams earning postseason bids. 

BASKETBALL BLOODLINES

• Not only do you have the family connections on the staff, but there are a few other family connections between Titans and college coaches, NBA players and former NBA stars:
• * Graduate student Brad Calipari is the son of Kentucky head coach John Calipari
• * Junior Dwayne Rose Jr. is the nephew of current Pistons' guard and 2011 NBA MVP Derrick Rose
• * Sophomore Chris Brandon is the nephew of former NBA player and head coach John Lucas and cousin to former NBA player John Lucas and former Texas standout Jai Lucas
• * Freshman Jamail Pink's uncle is NBA Hall-Of-Famer Clyde Drexler

ANTOINE EARNS JOHN R. WOODEN AWARD NOMINATION 

• The sophomore year of Antoine Davis has already been filled with accolades - and the games have not even started yet - as the University of Detroit Mercy high-scoring guard was named to the Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 list.
• The John R. Wooden Award® presented by Wendy's® is chosen by a preseason poll of national college basketball experts and the list is comprised of 50 student-athletes who are the early front-runners for the most prestigious honors in college basketball, the Wooden Award All American Team™ and Most Outstanding Player Award. 

GETTING THE FREE ONES

• Detroit Mercy has done a good job at the line this year as the Titans are leading the HL and 23rd in the country in free-throw percentage at 78.1 percent. 
• The Titans have connected on at least 20 free throws three times this season. 

BACK IN THE 20'S

• Sophomore Antoine Davis had a game-high 30 points against Louisiana Lafayette his last time out, his 10th career 30-point game and 27th career 20-point game in just 35 career collegiate contests.
• He has now scored in double figures in all 35 games - reaching at least 17 points in 34 of them - and he also nailed four 3-pointers versus the Rajun Cajun to extend his three-point shooting streak to 35-straight games, the seventh-longest streak in the country.
• 1. Mack Smith (Eastern Illinois) – 56    
• 2. Justin Jaworski (Lafayette) – 54
• 3. Keaton Wallace (UT San Antonio) - 47
• 4. Jaylen Minnett (IUPUI) – 42
• 5. Luke Frampton (Davidson) - 39
•  Cameron Healy (Albany) - 39
• 7. Antoine Davis (Detroit Mercy) - 34

CAN HE UP DEBUSSCHERE 

• Antoine Davis scored a Titan and HL-freshman record 784 points last season in 30 games and he already has 118 points in his first five games to give him 902 in 35 career contests. 
• He is trying to catch the great Dave DeBusschere - a NBA Hall-Of-Famer who was named one of the top 50 players in NBA history - as the fastest Titan to 1,000.DeBusschere accomplished the feat in his 43rd collegiate game and he did so in a big way with a then career-best 32 points in a 69-65 win over Toledo in 1961.
• Davis needs to average 14.0 ppg., in his next seven games to reach 1,000 in his 42nd game.  
• If he reaches that, he will become the 43rd player in school history to eclipse 1,000 career points. 

MILLER TIME

• The Titans got some good news as another veteran transfer in senior Justin Miller, a 6-8, 268-lb forward, was declared immediately eligible by the NCAA.
• At NC State, he scored nine points with three rebounds in just 15 minutes and really made his presence felt at Clemson, posting 13 points and a game-high 13 rebounds before tallying a season-high 14 knocking down a pair of triples in the win over UC Irvine. 
• It was his eighth career double-double, while the 13 rebounds were just two shy of his career-high. 
• He played the last three seasons for Louisiana Lafayette, seeing action in 97 games with 59 starts and averaging 9.1 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.4 assists, shooting 44.9 percent. 
• He tallied 11.1 points as a freshman starting 31 of 33 games and posted 9.0 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.7 assists last season, second on the team in rebounding and assists. 
• In his career, he has scored in double figures in 43 games - including 20 or more four times - with a career-high 22 points on the road at Kansas. He has also recorded eight career double-doubles with a career-high in rebounds of 15 at Arkansas State last season. 

FROM KENTUCKY BLUE TO TITAN RED

• Graduate student Brad Calipari transferred to Detroit Mercy and will have the rare two years of eligibility as a graduate student as he graduated from Kentucky in just three years with a degree in Business and is enrolled in the Liberal Studies masters program. 
• After starting the season 0-for-7 from the field and 0-of-5 from three, Calipari is 10-of-18 overall and 9-of-17 from three in his last three games from behind the arc and is averaging 10.3 points per game. 
• He had 13 points hitting 4-of-6 from long range at Wyoming and came back with a career-high 16 points with four more triples in the win over UC Irvine. 
• He spent three seasons at Kentucky and played in 27 games with the Wildcats, under the direction of his dad head coach John Calipari, and was part of 88 wins as the Wildcats advanced to the Elite 8 in 2017 and 2019 and the Sweet 16 in 2018. 
• According to stories in the Detroit Free Press, Kentucky has said they would be open to playing the Titans next season and that meeting could occur in Calihan Hall.

GOING AFTER YOU DAD

• Head coach Mike Davis is quick to point out that Antoine Davis is not the defender that he was in college, but in terms of offense, the son is winning that battle.
• Coach Davis starred at Alabama from 1979 to 1983 and totaled 1,211 points in 121 career games, going 478-of- 1003 (47.7%) from the field with 238 assists.
• Last season, Antoine posted 784 points, was 263-of-657 (40.0%) shooting with 107 assists in 30 games, and now has 902 career points, 130 assists and 41 steals.  
• For Brad Calipari, he has already surpassed his dad's, John Calipari, point totals at Division I as he has 43 at DI.  
• Coach Cal played three seasons of college ball, one at UNC Wilmington and two at Clarion. At UNC Wilmington in 1978-79, he posted 29 points hitting 4-of-17 from the field and 21-of-25 at the line. 
• At Clarion, Calipari scored 202 points, but ran the offense with 193 assists. 

WHO WILL START?

• Detroit Mercy saw 13 players start a game last season, the most in the country. 
• Detroit Mercy also used 15 different starting line-ups on the year. 
• Through the first five games, the Titans have used two different starting 5's. 

MOORE BOARDS

• Sophomore Marquis Moore really starting to come on last season, becoming a tough rebounder and hitting some shots from the outside.
• He posted eight points and nine rebounds at Wyoming and has grabbed at least four rebounds in four of the first five games
• He grabbed at least five rebounds in eight games last season, including two in double figures with a season-best 11 rebounds at Milwaukee and 10 against IUPUI
• Moore also started the year 2-of-16 from three, but then hit 6-of-11 in his last three games
• He had his first collegiate double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds against IUPUI, a team-high on the boards, and posted a season-best 12 points and eight rebounds in the Horizon League Championship quarterfinals at NKU. 

A GID-JEWELL PERFORMANCE

• Sophomore Boe Nguidjol was one player that head coach Mike Davis has seen marked improvement and the season opener at NC State showed just that.
• Nguidjol finished with a career-best and game-high nine rebounds along with two blocks and six points, hitting his first 3-pointer in the process in the season opener at NC State. He was a big reason the Titans outrebounded the Wolfpack, 40-33.
• He then tied his career-high with six points and pulled down seven rebounds in the win over UC Irvine. 
• He played in 20 games last year and pulled down at least five rebounds in three games with season highs of six at Akron, at Wright State and against NKU. 
• He gets his athleticism and footwork from his dad, who played professional soccer in England and China. 

BRANDON SHOWING OFF

• Sophomore Chris Brandon showed last season that he was one of the most athletic players in the Horizon League and did that just again in the season opener with a couple of dunks, finishing with eight points, three rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block at NC State.
• He came back with another athletic performance, finishing with 12 points and eight rebounds at Clemson. 
• He also has a block in four of the five games on the season. 
• Last year, he recorded 11 games on the season with at least five rebounds. 
• He earned his first collegiate start at Temple and had a stellar game going 7-of-9 from the floor with a team-high nine rebounds and had some nice buckets off his four offensive caroms and came away with two blocks.
• He tied his season-high with nine boards and scored six points against Ohio and put together a 12-point, six-rebound game against Kent State, where he was 6-for-6 from the field. 
• As a rookie, he shot 60.8 percent from the field, mostly on getting to the rim and putting back offensive rebounds. 

BIG WILLY STYLE

• Sophomore Willy Isiani had his best game of the season scoring 13 points and grabbing a career-high seven rebounds in the win over UC Irvine.
• He also continued his prowess from three as eight of his nine field goals this season and 28 of 34 in his career have been from behind the arc. 
• Isiani made his long-awaited debut midway through his freshman season and against NKU, he scored nine points, hitting three 3-pointers in just 11 minutes of action, until he suffered a head injury that kept him out for a few games. 
• He came back with four more 3-pointers at Oakland, finishing with 12 points. 
• He tallied a season-high 20 points nailing six more from downtown at IUPUI and finished the year with 14 in the Horizon League Championship quarterfinals at NKU.
• A native of Tbilisi, Georgia, he is believed to be the first Titan from the country of Georgia.

ROSE BACK AT DI

• Junior Dwayne Rose Jr. is back playing at the Division I level after suiting up for Southwestern Illinois College last season, where he averaged 7.6 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game.
• He is coming off a career-high 8 points against Louisiana Lafayette and that was after scoring six versus UC Irvine. 
• The Chicago native played in 14 games off the bench at Toledo as a freshman in 2017-18 and scored a season-high seven points at Kansas.